TWO IN ONE!

Words and photos by Ian Tocher

The NMCA/NSCA Super Series Power Festival visited Atlanta Dragway Mar. 16-17, with a double-header on the bill. Rain and a damaged guardwall postponed most eliminations from the season opener at Moroso Motorsport Park near West Palm Beach, FL, to the Atlanta event and despite running under threatening skies most of the weekend, both races were completed.

Qualifying sessions on Saturday doubled as elimination rounds for the delayed Florida event, which made each round that much more interesting. Several drivers managed to double up by going to the final each day in their respective classes, but only Rick Moroso in Hot Street and Bruce Lagory in Real Street managed to chalk up two in the win column.

David Anderson, crew chief for Lawrence Conley's twin-turbo boosted'94 Camaro, said his team dedicated their Pro Outlaw win and record-setting performance in Atlanta to the memory of Steve Grebeck, who was killed in a racing accident a couple of weeks earlier in Orlando. "It's hard to say that we beat the best without him there," Anderson said of the popular chassis builder.

There were a couple of wall slappers over the weekend, but the only major accident came in the Pro Outlaw final, late on Sunday afternoon when Jason Collins lost control of his 2001 Mustang and flipped it on its roof after hitting the left guardwall. Collins, an IHRA Pro Stock regular, was unhurt in the crash, but his car was heavily damaged and his racing future appeared uncertain as he left the track. Despite redlighting, Lawrence Conley picked up his first class win at Collins' expense, since the "worst or first" infraction rule came into play. "I feel bad for what happened to Jason," Conley said, "but we've lost so many races because of things that weren't our fault that we'll take the win and be happy any way we can get them."

Conley also left Atlanta with the NMCA Pro Outlaw E.T. record after a 6.556-secs pass in the semis on Sunday that bettered his number-one qualifying pace of 6.606 secs within the required one percent for an official record. Less than 24 hours earlier, Marc Dantoni had made the first official pass in the 6.50s for the class, going 6.560 during qualifyng on Saturday.

Pro Street racer Marc Dantoni roped off a pit stall beside his hauler at Atlanta in honor of Steve Grebeck. Dantoni's team was also selling commemorative Grebeck "Rock Star" decals, with the proceeds going to a memorial fund for the fallen racer's family.

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